


Day 3: Words

by Rutaaa



Series: Haikyuu Week 2016 [3]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Just Nekoma in general, basically friendship between kenma and nekoma fam, before the time of lev shiba and inu, i hate the terrible third years that would bully kenma, not senpai at all, rude senpai, when these guys are 1st and 2nd years
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-12
Updated: 2016-04-12
Packaged: 2018-06-01 20:52:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 793
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6535840
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rutaaa/pseuds/Rutaaa
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There are over billions of words, infinitely many, that all come in different languages. Every word has a different meaning and way to say it. Whether it be encouragement or insults.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Day 3: Words

It wasn’t a quick thing. It wasn’t something that came up over night, but was something that happened over his younger years. It started when his dad first bought him a Nintendo DS and he took it to school. Kids talked to him but Kenma struggled to say anything to them. He would eventually become comfortable around the other kids that were interested in his games, though. They included him. 

He didn’t notice at first. They were too quiet for him to hear over the noises his DS made. But they started getting careless when they talked. They began to talk about him, where he could  hear and couldn’t just ignore-- and he tried, oh how he tried. 

Other kids would ask his  _ friends _ about him but their answers made Kenma’s heart hurt. They weren’t his  _ friends _ because they liked him. No, they were his  _ friends _ because he helped them pass their own game levels. Ignoring what they said about him, people he thought he could trust, became harder and harder. School became the bane of his existence. So he started bypassing his school to get away, far away.

That’s when he met Kuroo Tetsurou. Kuroo has always had messy hair and it made Kenma laugh for the first time in a long time when he found out how Kuroo’s hair got to be the way it is. Kuroo didn’t judge Kenma for always playing his games. And it got better. Kenma didn’t need to have friends if he could have one  _ real _ one. 

Kenma was happy to just stick himself into the games he played, escape the real world for once, a place where  _ he _ was the respected and honored one. Then Kuroo got it into his head that Kenma would like volleyball (Kenma never said Kuroo was smart). The sport itself, was actually fun and easy to do, that is until Kuroo started dragging Kenma around the town under the pretense of physical conditioning. 

When he entered middle school Kuroo managed to convince Kenma to join the volleyball team. The school was small and not very well-known and so Kenma, having no prior experience beyond practicing with Kuroo, became the team’s setter. And just like playing a video game, Kenma became better the more he played, even if that wasn’t a lot. 

He played all three years of middle school, even if he was a bit more reluctant his third year with Kuroo gone. And when he started high school, he thought things would be fine, Kuroo kept people’s words away from him and Kenma could ignore them, but in the volleyball club, where everyone was close together every practice? And Kuroo couldn’t even stop their upperclassmen because he was just a second year. 

Kenma’s heart hurt going to volleyball practice everyday, not wanting to hear the senior’s cruel language against him. The sport he thought to be fun, was becoming something he dreaded. But Kuroo was there, this time, he wasn’t  _ alone _ . Not to mention the people that he met along the way. 

Yamamoto Taketora was loud and brutal, but he had a sweet heart. He was one of the first to befriend Kenma of his own accord. Being in the same class as Yamamoto made him pretty much unavoidable at times and Yamamoto slowly grew on Kenma, his active self entertaining. 

Then Yamamoto introduced Kenma to Fukunaga Shouhei. Fukunaga was definitely quieter company than Yamamoto, and it always made Kenma wonder how Fukunaga became friends with Yamamoto in the first place. When Kenma had asked, Fukunaga just shrugged and the two watched in silence as Yamamoto freaked out over a pretty girl. 

The very first day of high school, Kuroo brought two second years along with him to lunch. And so Kenma met the highly calm and relaxed Nobuyuki Kai. Kai was a refreshing relief from Kuroo’s craziness and knew when to sit in silence with him. 

But one of the best people Kenma has made friends with was Yaku Morisuke. Yaku was loud when riled up but knew how to talk softly. He didn’t ask personal questions that anyone would be uncomfortable with. Yaku reminded Kenma of a mother, even further proved at practice later that day. However, that isn’t why Kenma liked him so much. 

Yaku was someone that gave criticism brutally. He didn’t sugarcoat it and so when one received a compliment from him, it was taken as honest and revered by the other volleyball club members. Yaku’s words made Kenma’s heart soften and feel like he belonged. 

The help of these people and the seniors’ insults were the easiest to ignore. After all, the seniors would be gone next year and most likely end up living at home with their parents (Kenma is just bitter). 

**Author's Note:**

> I was seriously so angry when I first read and then watched the dumbass third years bullying Kenma. Legit, that is not what an upperclassman is. So have a lil' "fix-it" fic for how I imagined Kenma dealt with the third years. That and I love Nekoma's dynamic and friendliness.


End file.
